The Hargreaves Foundation supports Ekota Academy

The Trustees of The Hargreaves Foundation are pleased to announce that funding has been allocated to Ekota Academy Ltd in support of their new health, educational, and personal development programme, Thrive.

Since 2016, Ekota Academy has made massive strides in supporting community health and wellbeing and young people. Delivering sports and leisure activities, provided in the interest of social welfare, and supporting their educational attainment and skill development, they have supported around 1700 vulnerable young people each year. Their service to their local community has been recognised with achievement of the Kings Award for Voluntary Service in 2024.

Ekota Academy’s overall goal is to support young people living in Northeast London and the surrounding areas, and their proposal to deliver a new 12-month programme, ‘Thrive’, will be contribute to this. Thrive will run over two years and target young people aged 11-18 from the most deprived areas of the local community and those whose physical/mental wellbeing and education suffered most in the pandemic. Through the provision of weekly sports activities including cricket, football, boxing, and martial arts, along with 1:1 mentoring sessions, young people will be diverted from antisocial activity and re-gain self-confidence and self-esteem to set them on a path to success at school and future employability.

Funding from The Hargreaves Foundation will not only benefit the 90 young people anticipated to participate in the programme, but also the wider community, who will see a reduction in undesirable or antisocial behaviours around their local area.